Dining in the dark
Restaurant-style meals delivered to your seat at the movies. What’s that like? Chris Schulz gives the Hoyts Lux experience the taste test.
Did we want the duck bao buns or the salt and pepper tofu? The cheeseburger sliders or the pulled pork? The “Frenchy” hot dog, or the spicy one?
You’ll face a lot of questions when you arrive at a Hoyts theatre for the Lux experience, especially since the menu received a juicy upgrade by celebrity chef Manu Feildel.
“My current passion is to bring restaurant quality food to a casual dining experience,” said the press release, which showed Feildel watching a film while tucking into a tiny cheeseburger.
I wanted that seat. I wanted that cheeseburger. But first, we had some decisions to make. Feildel’s menu is huge, easily as many options as a mid-sized restaurant and a solid drinks list as well. We struggled for many minutes, then chose the tofu bao, three cheeseburger sliders, a spicy hot dog, the southern-fried chicken, and some cheesecake. It seemed like a lot of food. Apparently it was a
lot of food. “That is quite a lot of food,” warned the waitress. She was right. Heading to our seat, we’d already polished off a tub of popcorn by the time Tom Cruise’s sixth mission had selfdestructed. About 20 minutes into the movie, it all arrived at once, and we quickly realised the main problem of eating meals in a movie theatre: it’s so dark, you can’t see your food.
We didn’t let it stop us. We started with the tofu bao, soft, steamed buns full of silky tofu. They were stunningly simply and simply stunning. The fried chicken was sticky and overly sweet, but I soon discovered my fork was
scraping around the bottom of the bowl, looking for more. The cheeseburger sliders were small portions of meaty goodness. And the hot dog contained pickles that played off a pleasantly spicy chorizo.
The cheesecake? We had to wait until Tom Cruise’s Wanaka helicopter antics to taste it but it, too, delivered the goods. I have no idea where Hoyts hides its kitchen and I have no idea how they’re delivering food this good in a movie theatre. But afterwards, we spent our drive home talking exclusively about the food. Bravo, Mr Feildel. Mission: Accomplished.